Toll Gate & History

In the heart of the south coast, along the main road between May Pen and Mandeville, is the rural community of Toll Gate. This district is a major stop for commuters driving across the island, and home to a large community of producers; (i.e. Sugarcane, livestock and inland aquaculture).

The Name, Toll Gate

Shortly after the abolition of slavery, toll roads were introduced in the 1850's. Riots began when toll gates were erected along many major thoroughfares, preventing new peasants (the ex-slaves) from proceeding to their destinations until they paid a fee. It was always believed that the old toll roads were introduced to force the peasants back on the sugar estates, by making life unbearable for them.

It is significant that along with the toll roads of the mid-nineteenth century also came the tax on mules, donkeys and on cartwheels.

In addition, one historian, writing in The Gleaner in the 1960s, points to tolls as having helped to spearhead the practice of people carrying heavy loads on their heads.

Eventually, Governor Eyre abolished the toll gate system, but the district along what is now the A2 retained the name from the toll gate that stood there.

It is to the credit of the determined people emancipated from slavery that the toll roads were not effective as a means of forcing them back onto the estates. This in turn led to certain changes in Jamaica. When the toll roads did not force a sufficiently large amount of ex-slaves back on the sugar estates, indentured servants were introduced (ie. Chinese & East Indians).

Toll Gate is the strongest reminder of this period in Jamaican history.